Course Objectives

The objective of this course
is to introduce
you to the social science method and its application to the quantitative study
of politics.Topics to be taken up will
include measurement, research design, data collection, quantitative data
analysis, and the construction of research questions and hypotheses.An understanding of some basic statistical
techniques is necessary to study politics quantitatively.But you will not be required to memorize
statistical formulas or engage in computation more complex than multiplication
and division.Rather, the overall
emphasis in the course is on understanding the strengths and limitations of a
scientific approach to politics, and on the interpretation of quantitative
analyses of political and policy-relevant data.

All
of the analyses you undertake will be completed using the SPSS for Windows statistical software, which is not difficult to
use.We will spend time during the
semester learning how to navigate through the SPSS menus (e.g., how to open a file, how to print an output file),
and how to accomplish some basic data analysis tasks.

Books & Other Reading
Materials

Most of the reading for this
course will be drawn from one text: Johnson, Janet Buttolph,
Richard A. Joslyn, and H.T. Reynolds.2001.Political
Science Research Methods, 4th edition.Washington, DC: CQ Press. (JJR in the syllabus)This book is available for sale in the
bookstore and through regular reserve.

I will assign additional reading either in class or by Email (you are
responsible for making sure that I have an accurate Email address for you
throughout the semester and also for checking your Email regularly).I will either provide these additional
readings for you, provide a web address to access the material, or make them
available through electronic reserve.Current journal articles can be found in the social science library at Paterno.Journal
articles that are a few years old or older can be found on the web at www.jstor.org.

Grading/Course Requirements

Final
course grades will be calculated as follows:

In-class and take home
assignments25%

Midterm exam30%

Final exam30%

Participation and attendance15%

Some
assignments are listed in the course schedule that appears below.Additional assignments will be added during
the semester.All assignments are to be
turned in during class on the day they are due.Late assignments will be penalized one full letter grade for each day
that passes between the due date and the date you turn in the assignment.Missed in-class assignments cannot be
made up.

The examinations in this course will have a short answer
format.Some questions will require that
you define and explain relevant terms and concepts, and others will require
that you assess the use of certain research methods and analytic
techniques.The final exam will require
you to apply formulas for analytic techniques we cover in class, and to
interpret the results of analyses you perform (you also may be asked to interpret
empirical analyses I present to you).There are only a few formulas that I expect you to memorize for exams;
other formulas will be provided for your use on the exams.

The midterm examination will be given on Thursday, 26
February.The date for the final examination
will be announced when it is available.Make-up
exams will not be given.

Class participation and attendance are an important part
of your grade.I expect students to read
carefully the assigned materials on
time, to attend class, and to contribute to class discussions.You’ll learn a lot more if you come to class
than if you don’t, and you’ll also get more from the class if you participate
actively in the learning process (by engaging in class discussions, asking
questions, and listening attentively to me and to others in the class).If you miss a substantial number of
classes (more than six) for any reason,you will not receive a
passing grade for participation and attendance.This applies even if you have missed these
days because of illness. If you become so sick that you miss more than
six classes (equivalent to more than 20 percent of the semester), then your
illness will have prevented you from fulfilling the participation/attendance
requirement for the class.If you
do not participate in class discussion, your grade for the participation and
attendance portion of the course will be adversely affected.

Note
that it is not possible in this class to submit extra assignments in an effort
to raise your grade, unless I have specified in advance to the entire class
that such an opportunity exists.See the statement at the end of
the syllabus for information regarding academic misconduct and dishonesty.

Course Schedule

I reserve the right to make changes
to the syllabus as the semester progresses.You are responsible for keeping
up with these changes, which will be announced either in class or via
Email.You are responsible for making
sure that I have an accurate Email address for you throughout the semester, and
for checking your Email regularly.

Unless otherwise specified, the first reading listed is
due on the first day of each of the units mapped out below (e.g., for the first
unit, JJR, chapter 1 is due on 15 January).As we approach each of these units, I will tell you precisely when the
other readings will be due.Assignments
are due on the date indicated.If no
date is listed, I will also let you know when that assignment is due.Additional assignments may be added.

What is the science of
politics?What does it mean to undertake
scientific research about politics?(15–27 January)

Topics:

·Empirical
political science and studying politics scientifically

·Inference and
uncertainty

·A sampling of
questions and topics that motivate empirical research in political science

Reading:

JJR, chapter 1

JJR, chapter 2 (read for Tuesday, 20 January)

King, Gary, Robert O. Keohane and Sidney Verba.1994.Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative
Research.Princeton: PrincetonUniversity Press.Chapter 1, TheScience of Social
Science.Note: Available through electronic reserve; read for 20
January.

Assignments:

(1)JJR chapter 1,
exercise 1 (instead of the journals mentioned in the exercise, look only at the
American Political Science Review, Comparative Politics, and International
Studies Quarterly).Write up a
one-page description of the major topics addressed in these journals.We will discuss in class the information you
gather.Due: Tuesday, 20 January

(2)JJR chapter 2,
exercise 2 (use the New York Times or another national newspaper as your
source of current event information) and exercise 6.Due:
Thursday, 22 January

(3)Describe in one
paragraph of no more than 250 words what you think it means to study politics
scientifically, identifying any aspects of the scientific study of politics
that are unclear or confusing.Due: Tuesday, 27 January

What are the critical
components of social science research?What is the nature of inquiry in political science?What does it mean to “measure” concepts in
political science?Are all measures
created equal?How do social scientists
evaluate the quality of measures? What types of measurement error exist and why
are the differences important to a researcher? (29 January-19 February)

Topics:

·What makes a good research question

·Identifying
concepts and units of analysis

·Understanding
variation: independent and dependent variables

·Understanding and
posing hypotheses

Constructing measures

Evaluating measures –
reliability and validity

Random and systematic
measurement error

Measurement precision (aka “levels of measurement”)

Reading:

JJR, chapter 3

JJR, chapter 4

Assignments:

(1)JJR, chapter 3, exercise 4

(2)JJR, chapter
4, exercises 3, 4, & 5

What are the different
ways to design a scientific research project?(24 February)

Topics:

·Experimental and non-experimental research
designs

·Internal and external validity

Reading:

·JJR, chapter 5 (read pages 111-118 and 133-148)

Assignment:

(1)JJR, chapter 5, exercise 5

Midterm Exam, Thursday, 26
February

How much data
should be collected?Why does it matter
how the data are collected?(2-4 March)

Topics:

·Samples and populations

·Random and nonrandom samples

·Sampling error

·Uncertainty and inference

Reading:

·JJR, chapter 7 (be attentive to the differences
among, and strengths and weaknesses across, different types of samples; you
need not need be fluent in the details of different types of probability and nonprobability samples)

(2) There will be three or four data analysis
assignments.I will provide the data
sets you will use for these assignments.I also will indicate the type of data analysis I’d like you to undertake
for each assignment.

Final Exam, Date and Time
TBA

Academic
Integrity and Academic Dishonesty1

Along
with the Department of Political Science, the College of the Liberal Arts and
the University, I take violations of academic dishonesty seriously. Observing
basic honesty in one's work, words, ideas, and actions is a principle to which
all members of the community are required to subscribe.

All
course work by students is to be done on an individual basis unless an
instructor clearly states that an alternative is acceptable. Any reference
materials used in the preparation of any assignment must be explicitly cited.
For an exam, violations of academic integrity consist of any attempt to receive
assistance from written or printed aids, or from any person or papers or
electronic devices, or of any attempt to give assistance, whether the one so
doing has completed his or her own work or not.

Other
violations include, but are not limited to, any attempt to gain an unfair
advantage in regard to an assignment or exam, such as tampering with a graded
exam or claiming another's work to be one's own. Violations shall also consist
of obtaining or attempting to obtain, previous to any exam, copies of the exam
or the questions to appear thereon, or to obtain any illegal knowledge of these
questions. Lying to the instructor or purposely misleading any PennState administrator shall also
constitute a violation of academic integrity.

In
cases of a violation of academic integrity it is my policy to impose
appropriate penalties that are consistent with College and University
guidelines.The College of Liberal Arts academic integrity website http://www.la.psu.edu/assocdea/academicinteg.htm
provides additional information about the procedures that are followed in cases
of academic dishonesty.

Disabilities

The
PennsylvaniaStateUniversity encourages qualified people
with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities and is
committed to the policy that all people shall have equal access to programs,
facilities, and admissions without regard to personal characteristics not
related to ability, performance, or qualifications as determined by University
policy or by state or federal authorities. If you anticipate needing any type
of accommodation in this course or have questions about physical access, please
tell me as soon as possible. Reasonable accommodations will be made for all
students with disabilities, but it is your responsibility to inform me early in
the semester so that appropriate accommodations can be arranged.

Department of Political Science web site

You
will find a wealth of information on the Political Science Department web site
(http://polisci.la.psu.edu/) including
course schedules, faculty office hours, faculty home pages describing their
areas of teaching and research activities, answers to questions about advising,
internship opportunities, announcements, and much, much, more. Check back
often: information about internships and career opportunities is regularly
updated.

1Much of this text has been
directly obtained from the sections of the PrincetonUniversity website hftp://www.princeton.edu/pr/pub/rrr/99/pages/Ol.htm )concerning academic integrity (Rights, Rules,
Responsibilities introductory text as well as pages 55‑69) as well as
from the website of the Department of Economics at The Pennsylvania State
University.